Yu Chen Yueh-ying dies

Former Kaohsiung County commissioner Yu Chen Yueh-ying (余陳月瑛) died on Sunday night at the age of 87 surrounded by her family.

She passed away at the Kaoshiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Greater Kaohsiung, her family said yesterday.

Yu Chen’s body was sent back to the family’s old residence in Ciaotou yesterday morning.

A member of the “Yu family” that dominated then-Kaohsiung County politics for more than three decades, Yu Chen was the daughter-in-law of Yu Teng-fa (余登發), who was the county’s commissioner from 1960 to 1963.

She began her political career by running for the Taiwan Provincial Council in 1963 and serving in the body for four terms.

She narrowly lost a bid in 1981 to head the now defunct Kaohsiung County government.

She lost to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) adversary Tsai Ming-yao (蔡明耀) by only a few thousand votes.

However, in 1982, she was elected to serve in the Legislative Yuan, where she defeated Tsai in the election for Kaohsiung County magistrate in 1985. She held the position for two terms, until 1993.

Yu Chen was succeeded by her son, Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲), who also headed the county for two four-year terms and served as interior minister from 2002 to 2004 in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government.

Yu Chen was an adviser to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) when the DPP held power.

Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) expressed her condolences over Yu Chen’s death and commended her as a model of women’s participation in public affairs.

Kaohsiung County merged with Kaohsiung City to form a single special municipality on Dec. 25, 2010.

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